I hear being kind is punk but is it ska? Is being kind ska? I don't care about being kind unless it's ska.
Historically, yes!
Ok, slightly abridged history lesson for the uninformed of the history of ska, punk, and how the two genres irrevocably changed each other.
Ska came about in the 1950's in Jamaica through a fusion of jazz, R&B, and Caribbean Mento (the latter is, specifically, where the syncopation comes from). It got REAL popular with the Youth and the Underground. Ska traveled with the Windrush Generation to the UK, where it QUICKLY found a loving audience with the Mods and the Skinheads.
A generation after, black musicians who still played the music they grew up with befriended the white musicians they worked with in the same factories, shared their music and the language of the Jamaican Underground that travelled with it, and formed second wave ska, otherwise known as ska punk or 2 Tone, for the union of black and white musicians coming together in a period of dramatic racial unrest. This is why the checkerboard pattern is held dear by modern ska fans, it's a visual representation of the history of the genre.
Punk got its culture and language from Ska, and Ska got its harder, grittier edge from Punk. (Back in Jamaica, ska diversified into rocksteady, reggae, and dancehall in that order.)
Ska as we know it today is BECAUSE of interracial friendships, respect, and camaraderie in the face of a society that keeps you down. Kindness IS ska.
